Challenge at sea

How you can get involved.

What can volunteers do?DLSRT volunteering could involve anything from helping to maintain the fabric of the ships and their machinery to helping to ensure that visitors have an enjoyable visit or helping with background work such as fundraising, PR and administration.The physical roles are most suited to those who thrive in challenging working conditions either on board Challenge or in the DLSRT workshop. Some roles on ST Challenge involve going to sea and so sea legs are an advantage but there is plenty for people to do who would prefer to stay shore based.Some roles are already clearly defined but we are also open to any offers of help from those who are interested in getting involved.Because we have a variety of roles this is an ideal opportunity for couples would like to volunteer together but don't want to do the same thing.

Existing Roles:

Deckhand Volunteers on ST ChallengeDeckhands play an important part in keeping Challenge well maintained so that she can be enjoyed by visitors, preserved for the future and able to go to sea. Deckhands operate in a team to carry out a variety of routine maintenance tasks, such as scaling, painting, cleaning and working on the rigging and deck machinery.

Engine Room Volunteers on ST ChallengeEngine Room volunteers help maintain the ship's machinery in good working order. Tasks include dismantling/ repairing and rebuilding machinery as well as undertaking careful cleaning, painting and polishing of historic machinery.

Dunkirk Little Ships Volunteer

This general role is for people who don't specifically want roles such as working on engines or deck maintenance but could offer thingssuch as looking after visitors, helping with events, general cleaning and painting or acting as a guide. We need the basics covering but assume that some volunteers will prefer to focus on particular tasks that match their skills and interests.

Learning Volunteers on ST Challenge and SS ShieldhallThis is a shared role with SS Shieldhall as part of a project to develop activities that capture the imagination of visitors on board the ships and via the organisations' websites. This role is ideal for anyone who wants to help children and families have fun and learn about maritime matters. The role is supported by the project team working with both ST Challenge and SS Shieldhall and is a good way of getting involved with maritime and heritage education.

Dunkirk Little Ships 75th Anniversary Fundraising Volunteer

To find sources of funding to enable Challenge and Caresana (both Dunkirk Little Ships) to make the journey to Dunkirk for the 75th anniversary in May 2015.

Dunkirk Little Ships PR Volunteer

To help DLSRT make effective use of PR opportunities for the ships in a way that respects their history and raises their profile so that they can survive and continue to operate as part of British maritime history.

Check out the documents below, these will explain a bit more about the things that we do on Challenge and help you decide what you would like to do.

If you would like to enquire about becoming a volunteer, for any of our vessels please complete the Volunteer Enquiry Form below and send it to Sally Marsh at the address or email given on the form (if you would like to email the enquiry form see note below about downloading a word format version).

If you would like to download a document in word format check out our sister website for the DLSRT at www.dlsrt.org.uk and find theVolunteer page .